Soul of Judgement
by Yamirenamon
Summary: Three years have passed since Voldemort's final deafeat. But his broken soul has quickly hollowfied. Now Soul Society must intervine. And Harry learns that a few rival wizards are only gigais.
1. A Haunting at the Shrieking Shack

**A Haunting at the Shrieking Shack**

Darkness fell upon the Hogwarts school grounds as another day passed without any further progress. Three years had passed since that fateful morning when the most notorious Dark Wizard fell for the very last time. He lost his own life on that very day as well. Severus Snape had no will to stay in this world, he had made his peace. Yet he remained attached, haunted to the Shrieking Shack. The former professor's lifeless and bloodless body was removed from the shabby building shortly after his death. No doubt Harry Potter was the one who made sure Snape received a proper burial.

_'I'll have to thank Potter later,'_ Snape joked to himself.

The final gesture of Harry's forgiveness and understanding helped to put him at ease. Now the only desire that burned in his heart was the insatiable want to cross over. In the first few weeks following his death Snape feared that he would remain among the living for the rest of his existence. For at the center of his chest was a chain that bound him to the Shrieking Shack. At first the metal leash connected to the same spot on his body when his soul parted from it. The bond broke when they moved his body, but its chains remained.  
Snape found movement as a soul to be a challenge. But in the three years he made considerable amounts of progress. First he moved around the room where Nagini struck him, then the entire house, and onto the school grounds outside the Forbidden Forrest. And however far he had the energy to travel the chain adjusted its length to accommodate. Walking the school grounds was all he could do. He had to get away, far away.

_'What am I not doing right?'_ Snape asked himself as he watched the sun set.

He was certain that it was this chain that kept him bound to this life. Snape tugged lightly at the base. A deep pain radiated in his chest and he ceased to touch the chain. There had to be another answer.

_'Lily…'  
_  
Snape had planned to make it farther into the Forbidden Forest, but today his energy felt unusually low. Sleep no longer existed for his tired soul. And even though he could not feel the comfort of the ancient bed Snape laid on its covers every night for a few hours before making his night trip. The weary man stared at the barren ceiling before closing his eyes, wishing for the luxury of sleep.

"Maybe tomorrow…Maybe I'll find a way to cross over tomorrow."

"How about now?"

Snape's eyes flashed open at the sound of the new voice. A young, familiar face stared upside down at Snape. He quickly sat up and turned to look at the blonde that was standing at the head of the rather large bed.

"Malfoy? Draco Malfoy?"

Malfoy laughed lightly at the ghost's surprise, "Severus-san knows my gikongan well. I am Malfoy, yes and no, not the Malfoy you are familiar with."

Snape was looking at the face of Malfoy, but his voice was not. And his attire, Malfoy had on the most unusual outfit for a British wizard. He wore no robes but a flowy, black samurai kimono. Snape would never imagine a prideful and rich wizard to be seen in such a costume.

"A-are you dead?" Snape said.

He had numerous questions rushing through his mind, but that one seemed most important to know from the young blonde's sudden appearance.

"Oh no, I am not dead. But death is my job. And I'm here to help you move on to the afterlife."

_'Move on?'_ Snape thought, _'This is it! But…'  
_  
"But…You…I don't understand. Who's the Malfoy the Wizard World knows?"

The blonde gave a sigh, "I would love to answer all of your questions but this time we don't have time. Whether you wish to pass on or not I've been given orders to remove you from this place. Even in death you are in danger. But to answer your last question, the Malfoy you know is ...…"  
A monstrous cry filled the air causing Malfoy to stop his speech. For the first time in three years Severus felt what seemed like an earthquake that rattled every nerve in his body, if he still had one. Malfoy felt the shock wave as well for his face showed the surprise and fear that Snape himself felt.

"What was that?"

The blonde quickly turned his attention behind him to where the roar came from.

"Crap! I should have hidden my spiritual pressure better! He's found me out!"

A second and louder cry echoed in the room and Snape began to hear the foundations of the house come apart. Malfoy grabbed Snape by the arm and moved the two of them to the farthest room in the building away from the source of the destruction.

_'What's going on? What is that I hear? That thing I feel. And Malfoy…No…Not Malfoy. And he can't be alive. No living person can touch a ghost.'  
_  
"What are you?" Snape spoke after Malfoy finally let him out of his rather strong grip.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't let you stay here longer," Malfoy said as he drew his sword from its sheath, "But you have to leave now."

With the hilt of his sword Malfoy stamped its seal upon the confused man's forehead.

"What the…?" Snape began to feel rather lightheaded and he saw a great glow of light surround his vision.

"Where am I going?"

"You're crossing over, to Soul Society."

Snape heard and saw the chains that bound him to the living world break apart.

"Go and find her," Malfoy smiled.

_'He knows? How?'  
_  
Suddenly the enormous monster finally made its way crashing into the room where the two had hidden. Malfoy did not hear it fast enough and it attacked him from behind. Its enormous jaws would have bitten an ordinary man in half. But Snape feared that the attack was still fatal to him as massive amounts of blood gushed out from his neck, right arm, and most of his right side as the creature latched onto Malfoy's shoulder.

"GAAH!" Malfoy dropped his weapon.

"MALFOY!" Snape yelled as he continued to vanish into safety.

The beast was the oddest creature Snape had ever set his eyes upon. Its body was mostly that of a giant serpent such as a Basalisk. But its torso resembled something of a deformed man. In the middle of its pale chest bore a large hole that could be seen clearly through. And even though a ghastly mask hid most of its face, Snape knew right away who the creature was.  
_  
'Voldemort!'  
_  
"Malfoy!" Snape cried out for the last time among the realm of the living.

The last he saw was another dark figure darting toward the beast that was the Fallen Dark Lord, and apple red hair that shone brightly against the crimson blood.


	2. First Encounter

**First Encounter**

"I cannot thank you enough, Lieutenant Abarai. I would have been dead if you hadn't shown up."

"It's nothing," the redhead said to his comrade, "I don't think I've ever seen such a cowardly hollow. He ran when he saw that I had made it to the spirits still inside the castle first. I was merely chasing after him when he attacked you."

Malfoy recalled the words of the Lieutenant. It had only been a few days since he was injured at the grounds of Hogwarts. The wounds were almost completely healed. Yet the pain of guilt, guilt for being responsible that Voldemort had gotten away because of his carelessness, still lingered.

"Don't beat yourself up about it," Renji Abarai had told him, "The situation has changed and the emergency plan is going to have to go into motion. It's bad timing as Soul Society is still handling the Arrancar. You think you'll be able to handle this on your own?"

"Including Harry, it'll be four of us. I believe it'll be enough."

The conversation followed up to the days with no sign of Voldemort. And tracking down Harry was no easy task. It's never easy to locate a wizard or witch where their travel means, such as apparition, forces the blonde to start over again. But the biggest problem was the Ministry. Harry and Ron were training to become Aurors and spent a good amount of time in and around the Ministry of Magic. There was too much company who was not allowed to know.

"There's a hollow nearby."

"Is it him?"

"I don't think so. It looks too weak."

"His spiritual pressure was bound to attract one sooner or later."

It wasn't often that apprentice Aurors had the privilege to do work outside.

"Weak or not there's still too many other wizards around. This is not going to go smoothly. Wait here for my signal."

Aurors in-training always stayed in small groups accompanied by a teacher. Along with Harry and Ron were two other young wizards and the Auror.

"Uh…W-what is that?" Ron's voice interrupted the peaceful atmosphere.

He was the first to see the dark, mysterious creature. It resembled nothing human nor of any creature the group had ever seen. The skull-like face stared at them, silently telling them that it was not friendly. Realizing that it had been spotted the beast rose on its hind legs, exposing the gaping hole in its chest, and lunged itself towards the wizards. A variety of spells fired at the hollow as the wizards scattered.

"Stupify!" Harry fired the stunning spell at it.

The hollow looked nearly unfazed by the spell.

_'No effect? How?'_ Harry thought.

It seemed to favor Harry as it lunged for another attack, letting out an enormous cry as it did so. Harry managed to dodge the monster once again.

"Foolish humans!" the hollow roared.

"It talked!" one of the other Auror trainees shouted, "What is it?"

The hollow was close to striking at Harry again.

"It's not safe here! We need to…!" the Auror started to command the young wizards to flee.

But he was cut off by the sight and sound of the monster falling hard to the ground. The hollow was so close to Harry that the sudden impact knocked him off his feet and landed on the grass next to the giant creature. Lifting himself upright on the ground Harry saw a figure in black standing on top of the hollow's head. For a split second the figure looked familiar right before it moved with lightning speed to cut the hollow's mask in half with a blade. The human figure jumped away from the beast as it disintegrated into nothing.

"Malfoy?" Harry stared in complete disbelief.

"Anyone injured? No? Good," the blonde said as he returned his katana-like sword back into its sheath.

"What are you wearing?" Harry quirked an eyebrow after studying Malfoy's oriental attire.

BAM!

Malfoy punched Harry on top of the head.

"I just saved your ass from being eaten and that's all you got to say? See if I save you next time!"

"Harry!" Ron shouted as he ran towards the two.

Harry tried to ignore his pounding head as he saw all of the unharmed wizards run to his aid.

"What was that thing?"

"Is that really Malfoy?"

"Did he kill that monster? Where did it go?"

Numerous questions circled the air.

"You!" the official Auror spoke, silencing the students immediately, "Explain yourself!"

"I would, but that would be a waste of time," Malfoy said, "Restrain Weasley-san."

"What are you…? Let me go!" Ron shouted as someone grabbed him.

"Who are you?" Harry shouted as he saw that the man that was struggling to cover Ron's face with a dark cloth was someone who looked exactly like Malfoy.

He was not the same person that had just saved him as he was dressed in wizard robes and the one in the kimono had just grabbed Harry by the collar to prevent him from rescuing Ron,

"Stop it!" Harry protested.

The blonde who had Harry by his shirt held a device that resembled a lighter, pointed it in the direction of the bystanders, and clicked it. A puff of smoke burst from it and the wizards fell to the ground unconscious. The Malfoys released both of the men quickly afterwards. Ron sat up from the grass and showed the same bewildered expression as Harry when he saw double of an unfriendly face.

"What did you do to them?" Harry pointed his wand at the shinigami.

Ron followed Harry's lead and armed himself against the blonde closest to him.

"I erased their memory of this event," Malfoy spoke calmly, "A false memory will replace it when they wake up."

"If you had fought any harder against me, Weasley," the other Malfoy spoke, giving Ron a nasty sneer, "then you would have joined them."

Harry hadn't noticed it before, that crucial detail. Though they both looked perfectly identical their voices were completely different. The one who had blind-folded and held Ron to the ground was the Malfoy they had known since their first day at Hogwarts.

_'Polyjuice potion?'_ was Harry's first thought.

But that would be redundant as the 'imposter' made no effort in keeping the real Malfoy at bay. If anything they were working together. Also…

"Why was I not blinded? Why did it not affect me? What was that thing that attacked us? And who are you?"

"You've got some wounds on you," Malfoy said, completely ignoring Harry's questions, "I think that we should return to your home to take care of those first."

"You let a questionable stranger follow you back here?" Hermione hissed at Harry after he explained the events leading to Ron and his early arrival at the Burrow.

Ron was inside the home, telling his version of the story. Harry hoped that Hermione could shed some light on the unknown by talking to her separately. They stood at the open doorway, away from the Weasleys.

"He knows why we were attacked by that," Harry paused for a second, "that thing."

Hermione sighed. She couldn't conjure an answer right away. But she thought over Harry's story for a moment to try to make sense of it.

"Astral projection!" Ron's voice shouted from inside the house.

"No, your body cannot move on its own if your soul escapes it," Hermione shouted back, disproving Ron's theory.

"It wasn't a terrible guess," Malfoy finally spoke, "I'll give him credit for that."

Knowing that he wasn't completely welcomed Malfoy remained on the lawn, sitting on the grass. Harry had a feeling he was trying to look the least threatening as possible.

"Oh now he talks!" Ron said as he joined them at the doorway.

The rest of his family followed quickly, all of them uneasy by the unwanted visitor yet curious at his presence.

"I would have preferred to not drag others into this situation," Malfoy stood up from his spot, "But the reports say that you're quite inseparable from your friends. So the way I see it it's best to inform everyone at the same time. Hold on to this for a bit."

No one expected Malfoy to voluntarily hand over his wand. Hermione almost dropped it and her own wand as he tossed it in her direction.

"To start, the creature that attacked you was a hollow. Not to be mistaken by the legendary Hallows," Malfoy quickly answered the puzzled look on Harry's face upon hearing the name, "In a nutshell they're spirits that have lost their heart, which is why your magic barely harmed it. But more on that later," Malfoy said, "I know you all miss the Malfoy you know and love."

The blonde retrieved what looked like a Pez dispenser from inside his robes. Taking the dispenser near his mouth Malfoy pressed his thumb on the top of the cartoon animal's head. A tiny glass marble ejected from its mouth and landed into Malfoy's. Ginny let out a startled scream when she saw Malfoy literally jump out of his skin. Wands were raised against him. The Malfoy dressed in the dark kimono raised his hands to show no will to fight.

"Woah, let's not get hasty."

The body he just escaped on the other hand frantically searched his own clothes.

"Where's my wand?" the wizard demanded in the voice familiar to them all.

"My name is Atsushi Malfoy," he continued, ignoring his look-alike, "I'm a shinigami, a reaper of souls. The reason you were attacked, Potter, is that you are one as well."


End file.
